杏MAP导航

By Linda Bordoni

Celebrating Mass on the solemnity of Pentecost in St. Peter鈥檚 Square, 杏MAP导航 Francis urged the faithful to implore the gift of the Spirit that makes us artisans of concord, sowers of goodness, apostles of hope.

Reflecting on the liturgy of the day, the 杏MAP导航 explained that thanks to the Holy Spirit, the disciples鈥� worries disappeared.

Rejuvenated by the Spirit, he said, their lives were changed, and he pointed out that 鈥渇ar from being an abstract reality: he is the Person who is most concrete and close, the one who changes our lives鈥�.

鈥淗ow does he do this?鈥� the 杏MAP导航 asked: 鈥淭he Holy Spirit did not make things easier for them,鈥� he said, 鈥渉e didn鈥檛 work spectacular miracles, he didn鈥檛 take away their difficulties and their opponents.  The Spirit brought into the lives of the disciples a harmony that had been lacking, his own harmony, for he is harmony鈥�.

Harmony

The 杏MAP导航 said that 鈥渟eeing the Risen Lord is not enough, unless we welcome him into our hearts.鈥�

He explained that it is the Spirit who makes Jesus live within us, raising us up from within.

鈥淭hat is why when Jesus appears to his disciples, he repeats the words, 鈥楶eace be with you!鈥�, and bestows the Spirit,鈥� he said.

Peace, 杏MAP导航 Francis explained, is not a matter of resolving outward problems, it鈥檚 about receiving the Holy Spirit.

Only filled with the Spirit, he said, our hearts can be peaceful and we can achieve a harmony so profound that it can 鈥渆ven turn persecutions into blessings鈥�.

鈥淩esolving momentary problems will not bring peace.  What makes a difference is the peace of Jesus, the harmony of the Spirit,鈥� he said.

Spirit of peace

杏MAP导航 Francis said that at today鈥檚 frenzied pace of life, harmony seems swept aside and often we look for quick fixes.

But more than anything else, he said, we need the Spirit.

鈥淭he Spirit is peace in the midst of restlessness, confidence in the midst of discouragement, joy in sadness, youth in aging, courage in the hour of trial,鈥� he said.

Without the Spirit, the 杏MAP导航 continued, our Christian life unravels, lacking the love that brings everything together.

鈥淲ithout the Spirit, Jesus remains a personage from the past; with the Spirit, he is a person alive in our own time.  Without the Spirit, Scripture is a dead letter; with the Spirit it is a word of life.  A Christianity without the Spirit is joyless moralism; with the Spirit, it is life,鈥� he said.

The 杏MAP导航 noted that the Holy Spirit does not bring only harmony within us but also among us, distributing the great variety of the Church鈥檚 qualities and gifts creatively.

And on the basis of this variety, he continued, the Spirit builds unity: 鈥淔rom the beginning of creation, he has done this.  Because he is a specialist in changing chaos into cosmos, in creating harmony.鈥�

Spirit of unity

Underscoring the fact that lack of harmony in today鈥檚 world has led to stark divisions, the 杏MAP导航 said 鈥淭here are those who have too much and those who have nothing, those who want to live to a hundred and those who cannot even be born鈥�.

He said that in 鈥渢he age of the computer, distances are increasing: the more we use the social media, the less social we are becoming鈥�.

We need the Spirit of unity, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, to regenerate us as Church, as God鈥檚 People and as a human family.  

He decried the temptation to 鈥渃ling to our little group鈥�, to resist all contamination.

鈥淭he Holy Spirit, on the other hand, brings together those who were distant, unites those far off, brings home those who were scattered.  He blends different tonalities in a single harmony, because before all else he sees goodness,鈥� he said.

The 杏MAP导航 continued saying 鈥淗e looks at individuals before looking at their mistakes, at persons before their actions鈥� and explained that the Spirit shapes the Church and the world as a place of sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.

Those who live by the Spirit, he said, 鈥渂ring peace where there is discord, concord where there is conflict.  Those who are spiritual repay evil with good.  They respond to arrogance with meekness, to malice with goodness, to shouting with silence, to gossip with prayer, to defeatism with encouragement鈥�.

杏MAP导航 Francis concluded his homily with the invitation to adopt the Spirit鈥檚 way of seeing things: 鈥淭hen everything changes: with the Spirit, the Church is the holy People of God, mission is the spread of joy, as others become our brothers and sisters, all loved by the same Father鈥�.

Without the Spirit the Church is an organization

Without the Spirit, he warned,  鈥渢he Church becomes an organization, her mission becomes propaganda, her communion an exertion鈥�.

鈥淟et us daily implore the gift of the Spirit,鈥� he said: 鈥淗oly Spirit, harmony of God, you who turn fear into trust and self-centredness into self-gift, come to us. (鈥�)  Make us artisans of concord, sowers of goodness, apostles of hope.鈥�